Product Details

• Actors: Glenn Close, Niels Arestrup, Kiri Te Kanawa, René Kollo, Håkan Hagegård
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: January 27, 1993
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630238804X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,660 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not only for Wagnerians...., January 16, 2002

By 

Tina Morris "schultheiss" (Rockville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meeting Venus [VHS] (VHS Tape)

For classical music fans this film is an absolute delight, but even if you are not into opera you will love it. It is a great and complicated love story between a diva and a conductor. The film is also a wonderfully drawn vignette of the cultural clashes and ego-battles that accompany the birth of a great opera production.

When I first read about the movie I had trouble seeing Glenn Close in the role of an opera diva, but she does a marvelous job, and her lip-synching to the absolutely divine soundtrack of Kiri te Kanawa is really pretty good. Her counterpart Nils Arestrup does a wonderful job as well, playing the introvert, yet passionate conductor, for whom the whole Paris opera experience is alien and strange in more than one way.

The soundbites from Wagner's Tannhaeuser are well-picked and enchanting.
Some people may find the overall storyline predictable, but that does not take away from the overall very high quality of this movie

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful!, March 27, 2000

By 

Izolda (North Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meeting Venus [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It is a delight not only for classical music fans but for anybody interested in the cinema with the European flavour! And that is what "Meeting Venus" is really about: music and Europe, the latter after the transformations of the recent times. But don't worry, it's not a hard to digest treatise on the European problems, but a light satire marvellously performed by an international cast led by Glenn Close and Niels Arestrup. The plot is very simple - a Hungarian conductor comes to Paris to lead "Opera Europa" in a goofy production of Wagner's "Tannhauser" [It is "Tannhauser" with "a concept" - the term, well known to the opera goers, refers to the opera productions that follow director's, NOT composer's vision of the work, like Peter Sellars's Mozart in modern costumes and settings - Sellars is the best known American "concept" director. There has been a true epidemic of "concept" productions in Europe in the recent decade and it is good to remember it while watching "Meeting Venus"]. Everything seems to conspire against the talented and energetic conductor and the final catastrophy is near, but... I won't give away everything, even if it really doesn't matter if you know the ending. I watched this movie many times and every time I come back to it, I discover many new details. I understand it better and better - not only as a wonderful metaphor, but also at the very basic linguistic level: poor diction (combined with poor English pronunciation) of some actors in the secondary roles makes this movie a little hard to understand, especially for people for whom English is a foreign language (I am one of them). It is a little hard, as I said, but not impossible - I want to emphasize it because I believe that people with the European, but not necessarily Anglo-Saxon background are the most likely to be interested in this very European movie. So, be prepared to use your "rewind" button quite often! If you do not know the story of "Tannhauser", it would be good if you can familiarize yourself with the libretto of the opera before you start watching the movie. It is not necessary, but it will help you understand (and enjoy) a lot, including the ending. If you dislike Wagner (as I do most of the time), do not let this prevent you from watching "Meeting Venus". You'll hear the famous ouverture and the glorious pilgrim's chorus, which are wonderful pieces of music. The final chorus will leave you spellbound! To sum up - this is a delightful, wonderfully performed movie and it is very likely to be one of your favorites, as it is mine. And just a final word to these movie lovers who do not care about music, whether by Wagner or not: even if music is an important element of "Meeting Venus", you can easily enjoy the movie without caring for its soundtrack. Just make sure you read the opera's libretto - that is enough to understand the movie's message. But don't be surprised if, after having met Venus you'll find yourself in the classical CD shop looking for "The Best of Wagner". Fragments from "Tannhauser" are guaranteed to be there, because IT IS (some of) the best of Wagner. Enjoy!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delight for classical music fans!, June 9, 1999

By 

Czinczar (Southeast Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meeting Venus [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Maltin's synopsis and evaluation of the movie sum it up well, so there's not much more to say. It's a real pleasure to watch. Classical and/or opera fans will find it irresistable. There's something about the movie's pacing that will make it appeal to them. If you're not a classical fan, some of you may consider it a mere "chick flick." Some have criticized it as being too soap opera-ish. I dislike soap operas. I would have noticed. It didn't strike me that way. The cast members all gave excellent performances, though Close didn't come across all that well as a Swede. The characters' opera-sized egos made them a bit buffoonish, but it was all still effective. Both Close and Arenstrup were fascinatingly inscrutable in their motivations and compulsions. It was very entertaining to watch Szanto/Tannhäuser in his struggle to come to terms with his feelings for Anderson/Venus. There's a nice little twist at the end of the movie that works perfectly. Wagner's music is woven in beautifully throughout. "Meeting Venus" is a must-see for any classical/opera fan and anyone who likes a witty and accessable non-Hollywood movie.